Electronic chips and devices have numerous applications. For example, sophisticated electronic chips and devices can be manufactured at relatively low cost and used in a wide range of remote sensing and communications applications. Such electrical devices can be placed in remote and distributed locations for clandestine use in various technologies, such as defense (e.g., in a battlefield), security, or clinical applications (e.g., for diagnostics, monitoring, therapeutic applications, and drug delivery). However, once disposed in remote and/or distributed locations, these electrical devices may not be easily recoverable. For example, it may not be practical to track and recover every electronic chip or device placed within a battlefield. Similarly, in clinical applications, it may not be practical to remove an electronic that may be positioned in a remote location, for example at a location within a human body. Although various techniques for generation of self-vanishing or self-destroying electronic have been proposed, such approaches generally either use electronics that result in diminished performance (e.g., nano-crystalline silicon, organic electronics) or require destroying the electrical device using elements that may not be feasible for use in all applications (e.g., force, heat, electrical discharge, etc. that are not feasible for all applications, for example clinical applications).